Our prayer going into camps and this summer of ministry was that the Lord would give us conversion growth within our youth group. We are seeing the fruits of those prayers as God has furthered His Kingdom here in Albania among the next generation.
Our first camp (believers camp) was conducted for the third year by Lakeside Bible Church outside of Houston, Texas. The camp took place in Vlora, Albania, which is a coastal city in the south on the Adriatic Sea. The theme for camp was ‘True Happiness’ and the passage of scripture that we worked through was Matthew 5:1-11 on the beatitudes. The fellowship was wonderful and we have been truly blessed by the team and their on-going friendship. We are thankful for their commitment to the Word of God and the encouragement of the saints here in Albania. Our students were very blessed by their presence and teaching, and many lives have been changed or reunited in Christ because of their example.
Our second camp (evangelistic camp) was conducted for the fifth year by Grace Church of DuPage outside of Chicago, Illinois. However, instead of staying in Tirana or going to Vlora we decided to go down to a city called Erseka in southeastern Albania next to the Greek border and go camping. All of us had a wonderful time and it was such a blessing to enjoy God’s creation and hear the Word. The theme was ‘Camp Encounter’ and the team taught through various biblical accounts starting with Adam and Eve up to the Cross of Christ that displayed how God desires and initiates personal relationships with those whom he created, and that our God is a personal God. The idea of a personal relationship with God is a foreign idea to most Albanians.
At both camps we were threatened by fire. It has been very dry this summer and the spread of wildfires is across Albania. Our hotel in Vlora was on the side of a mountain, and one night at about two in the morning we get a knock on our door saying that just over the hill there was a fire coming our way. The fired started when a guy at another hotel next to ours threw his cigarette from his balcony into some bushes and it caught fire. As we began to figure out if we should leave or not, they finally got the fire under control and it never came over the hill towards our hotel.
The second encounter with fire was down in Erseka at our camp last week. These were large forest fires that were two ridges over from our campsite. The missionary who we rented the campsite from asked us for some help in putting out the forest fires. So a number of guys went up into the mountains with shovels to help contain the fire. We must be honest, there were some intense moments when the wind kicked up and the fire became stronger and more active and was torching down pines that were in our path. At the end of it though we all agreed that an experience like this would only happen in Albania and that in few other places in the world would they ask campers from the USA to come and help put out forest fires. Most of these fires were caused by arson as because of land disputes among the locals.
Finally, we are so thankful to God for his mercy on three girls that became believers over the last two weeks. They are Vjola, Zerina (saved last week at Erseka), Klaudia (saved two weeks ago at Vlora). Vjola and Zerina will be part of our group here in Tirana at GCT. Pray for them as they will have pressure from home for the decisions that they have made to follow Christ, pray that they would not fall away because of the pressure. Klaudia is an Albanian girl who lives in the States, so pray as she goes back to the states that she would get plugged into a good Bible teaching church.
We give God the glory for all that he is doing in our midst. We are thankful that he continues to make much of Himself here in Albania. Thank you all for your prayers for the sake of the Gospel out here in Albania. Enjoy the pictures and the movies…
Houston Team and Camp:
Chicago Team & Camp:
Forest Fires:
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